95 Xantia TD - slight oil blow

[Old-Guy]

Our 1.9TD Xantia TD has a slight oil leak somewhere above the cam cover where it shows mostly on the mounting flange of the plastic pipe from turbo to intercooler, and less so on the inlet manifold below and behind this. The engine doesn't use any oil between changes (every 6k), but I'd rather fix the leak before it gets worse instead of keep cleaning up the oil to stop it spreading further.

My immediate thought was oil mist from engine breather fumes escaping from a slight leak in the pressurised side of the inlet pipery - but the pipe to the turbo is clean. I can't work out where the oil could be coming from.

As the turbo pipes are such sods to remove to see what's going on under them, has anyone any experience of a similar oil leak?

Thanks, Guy

[CitroJim]

Guy,

I don't think I've ever seen a TD totally dry in this area. There is a lot of oil mist in the inlet tract courtesy of the crankcase breather and this mist seems to be incredibly penetrating and can get through the tiniest gaps and pores and as it condenses out, it makes a mess, mostly up by the rubber coupling to the inlet manifold. Pull it off and you'll find quite a lot of oil condensate there. Nothing to worry about at all and something, unfortunately, that has to be lived with. I believe all this oil mist is actually good for the turbo. Failures are so rare.

The 2.1 TD suffers in the same way on the four rubber couplings between the two halves of the inlet mainfold runners. My lad, as we were servicing his 2.1 TD 406 today, was worried about it until I showed him mine was the same!

I too, many years ago on my first ever TD, was shocked to find so much oil in the inlet tract. So worried that it promptede me to make my very first posting and that was in the days of usenet!!!

Several times over the years I've tried to stop it happening without much success. I now just wipe it away on a weekly basis. It is annoying though, on an otherwise oiltight engine.

[Old-Guy]

Jim

Thanks for your advice and reassurance. Next time I'm doing some maintenance, I might remove the rubber coupling on the manifold and check it for deterioration - maybe there's a pinhole aimed at the place on the plastic pipe where the oil is most evident? I've got a roll of self-amalgamating insulating tape (incredible stuff) for a bodge 'cure' before buying a new rubber connector. We'll see. I'll try to remember to keep you posted.

Guy

[Old-Guy]

Had another look at this on Saturday while looking for clues to my hot start problem (gone away!). The short fat rubber hose connecting the inlet manifold extension to the black plastic duct coming from the intercooler may be the culprit - or rather one of the jubilee clips. There was oil on the underneath of the manifold extension casting and on the edge of the rubber pipe. Because the extension forms a shoulder it traps a little puddle of oil in the rubber pipe. This trickled out when I undid it all so the evidence wasn't clear, but it looks as though this may have been the cause.
I cleaned it all up, re-assembled doing up the clips a bit tighter and I'll see what it looks like next time I open the bonnet.
It (she) maybe getting to that age where vital hoses are getting a bit tired and soft underneath the clips. From now on, I'll keep a careful eye out for any other little weeps and replace any hoses that look dodgy.
Can any of you long-time Xantia experts tell me please, which of the less accessible hoses have a habit of going?

Thanks

Guy